Bushfires

The last 24 hours have seen the State's worst bushfires in recent memory. Last night before going to bed the number of dead was 25; we woke to 50. Now it looks like there are at least 76 dead.

We have become news junkies. The first times we needed the constant fix of facts was the Tiananmen Square protests in '89 and then again in the first Gulf War - an incessant, desperate need for more information as though there was something useful we could if only we knew some missing piece. Or perhaps we were just waiting for someone to say that things have peaked and won't get any worse.

Tonight we watched a couple of news programs, commercial and non. Both had live interviews with both the Premier (Brumby) and the Prime Minister (Rudd). Everyone, whether politico or journo looked haggard and struggling with emotion of the day.

"Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die?
At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes "

...sang Jack Johnson, but tonight both Peter Hitchener and Ian Henderson were struggling to keep it together.

Some hours later, we've just heard that one of their peers (and competitors) looks like he and his wife were killed in the fires. It doesn't make it any worse, but it does put a familiar face to those who've perished. The places close to Melbourne that have burned I know - King Lake and St Andrews in particular - and will miss as they were. But even putting a face to it, I still can't fathom that so many have died.